Fable Valley to Lockhart Basin

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Last November I took a day trip down to Fable Valley in search of a specific pictograph panel. I found a lot of cool stuff that day, but not the panel I was looking for. I returned again with Marty this morning to search for that same rock art panel and had much better luck.

What an amazing pictograph panel! Like a few other panels I have seen, all of the figures painted here are connected to each other by a line. I’m glad I was finally able to find it.

While driving back to North Long Point we were flagged down by this red rental pickup truck with a flat tire. They were a couple of college students from up near Salt Lake that were doing some field work out here. The school had rented them the pickup truck to use for the project. They had a spare tire under the truck, but unfortunately the truck did not have a lug wrench or jack so they couldn’t retrieve it or install it. Luckily, Marty and I had enough tools with us so we were able to figure out a way to help them out. We were able to lower the tire using the handle of my factory jack and then we used my jack to raise the truck. My factory lug wrench didn’t fit their wheel nuts but Marty had a four-way wrench that did. After replacing the tire with the spare I even went ahead and plugged the hole in their bad tire and filled it with air again…just in case they needed it.

After driving fast on some more dusty backroads we eventually reached the highway again. Marty headed back home and I went to Monticello to fill up my Jeep and grab a quick dinner before starting my drive to Moab via Lockhart Basin.

After the sun was down I kept driving, looking for a place to camp for the night. I came across a really nice spot with a great view shortly after sunset, but it was filled with a commercial group of mountain bikers. I’m guessing that since the White Rim trail was closed because of the government shutdown they decided to take their clients across the river to Lockhart Basin instead. I kept driving until just before twilight was over before I came across a short spur road that led to a nice place to camp. I quickly setup my tentcot, read for a little bit and then got to sleep so I could be up for the sunrise.

From the pics you posted, you entered Fable Valley (FV) via Wild Cow Point and down Wild Cow Canyon. Can you give me a hint where this panel might be relative to the junction of Wild Cow Cyn and FV or Fable spring? We used the Wild Cow route this spring to visit the “middle” part of FV. Just last month we visited the Fortress ruin via the Brush Corral. As we hiked down the cow trail from the corral, we could see what appeared to be ruins in an alcove on our left high on a south facing wall. It looked like access might be tough. Do you know any thing about this alcove? Some updated road info. The road to the Brush Corral from North Long Point Road and the FV TH marker is now passable. We were able to drive two Jeeps all the way to the Brush Corral to park. Great rock art pics. Congrats on finding them on second shot!